A two-story brick house seen across its front lawn in 2019, the brick one even red range from the gables down to the garage
Case File 095

Darkening Light Brick on a Romeo Michigan Home

The brick on this two-story house went up with too many light units in the wall. The company that made the brick paid to have them darkened, and the whole job took one day. It was photographed again twenty-three years later and certified then.

Case No. 095
Structure Two-story home, gabled wings
Location Romeo, Michigan
Stained 1996
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 23 years, Platinum level

1996

  1. The gable end of a newly built house in 1996, pale units scattered through the red brick around an octagonal window, bare soil where the lawn will go During, 1996 View this photo larger
  2. The long side wall of the same house in 1996, the gas and electric meters mounted low on brick that runs from red to pale tan across the elevation During, 1996 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. The brick was new and the range simply ran too pale in places, which on a front elevation is what you see from the road. The file records the issue as too many light brick in the wall.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the homeowner. The company that supplied the brick paid for staining rather than tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand and only onto the units that needed it. The correction on the form is one sentence: we darkened the light brick to create a better range. Two walls were treated, the front and the side where the gas and electric meters sit, and the crew was there a single day.

2019, twenty-three years on

  1. The house from the front lawn in 2019, the brick reading as one even red range across the two-story block and the garage wing, with mature planting along the drive 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The same gable and octagonal window in 2019, the brick one consistent red range from the peak down to the garage door, the Brickman certified stamp in the corner of the frame After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The gabled entrance wing in low evening sun in 2019, cast stone accents set into evenly ranged brick above a bank of clipped boxwood 23 Years After View this photo larger
  4. The brick at unit scale on an outside corner in 2019, warm orange and red units with pale mortar joints turning the corner together 2019 View this photo larger

What twenty-three years prove

Same wing, same octagonal window, same range. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over, and it is the top of the scale. As of 2026 the work is thirty years old, and the 2019 certification is the most recent record on it.

The signed file

Every certified job gets the same form, signed on the day someone goes back to the building. This is the one for case 095, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

Scan of the case study form for case 095, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Romeo, MI Residence (1996)
Level
Platinum. The scale runs Bronze at seven to nine years, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
Brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issues
"There were too many light brick in the wall."
What was corrected
"We darkened the light brick to create a better range."
Storyline
"This project only took us one day to complete. We had to blend the front wall and side wall (where the gas and electric) meters were."
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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